Circuit-breaker.



J. YOUNG.

CIRCUIT BREAKER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.11, 190s.

Patented July 26, 1910.

\NVENTOR.

WITNESSES: A; c. fl/Mzi M J H1? YOUNG, (3F TOLElDG, 0:510.

CIRCUIT-BREAKER.

$pecification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 26, 1910,

Application filed November 11, 1908. Serial No. 461,99"(.

To all whomit may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN Youno, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Circuit-Breaker; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and

' exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to circuit-breakers for use in electric powerhouses and other places where currents of high voltage or high amperageare employed, and has particular reference to Oll circuit-breakers inwhich a column of mercury is employed to make and break the circuit.

The object of my invention is to provide a mercury column oilcircuit-breaker of simple and inexpensive construction that can bequickly installed and cheaply maintained, that can be installed in anyplace and with inexpensive construction, that makes perfect electricalconnection and can be used for all voltages and all current capacitiesby merely increasing or diminishing the size of the mercury column.

The operation, construction and arrangement of the parts of my inventionare fully described in the following specification, and a preferredembodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in Wh1Cl1,-

Figure 1 is a side elevation oi? the apparatus partly in centralvertical section, with the mercury raised to close the circuit, and Fig.2 is a similar View of a portion of the apparatus with the operativeparts in released or open' position.

Referring to the drawing, 1 represents the switchboard of slate, marbleor other suitable material, and 2 and 3 the upper and lower studs orarms, respectively, which for convenience are made in two parts securedtogether by bolts ei. The inner ends of the studs 2 and 3 pass throughinsulating bushings 5, secured in openings in the switchboard in theusual manner, and extend beyond said bushings 5 a sufiicient distance toallord proper connection with the terminals (not shown).

Near the outer end of the stud 3 in an enlarged portion thereof is amercury chamber 6, 1n winch operates the piston 7 through piston-rod 8and connected operating 1nechanism hereinafter described. 6 are ventholes through the top of the chamber.

Adjacent'the mercury chamber 6 and connected therewith through theaperture 6* in the lower end of the outer wall of said chamber is thevertical passage 9, which communicates with the lower endof the mercurytube 10, of glass or other suitable insulating material. 10 representsthe mercury column.

The upper. end of the tube 10 communicates with an oil-chamber 11,formed in the enlarged outer end of the stud 2, and shown partiallyfilled with oil 11' in Fig. 1. 11 are vent holes for the chamber 11; Thejomts between the ends of said tube and associated parts are made tightwith any suitable packing and union, as at 12.

Suspended centrally within the oil-cup 11 from the top thereof is thearc-finger or contact-point 13, which is preferably provided wlth aremovable point 13 for purposes of renewal, the two portions of thearc-finger being in threaded connection, as at 13", or otherwisesuitably secured together. It will be noted that the arc-finger extendsdown within the tube 10 for a short distance, so that the arc will notbe broken until after,

the mercury has fallen away from the walls of the oil-chamber 11, thusprotecting said walls from burning or pitting.

The mechanism for operating the piston 7 is as follows: the bell-cranklever 14 is fulcrumed on the stud 3 at 14, its long arm having pivotalconnection with the upper end of the piston-rod 8, and its short armbeing similarly connected to an end of one of a pair of toggle-links 15,15. The other link 15 is pivoted to the arm 3 at 15. A pull-rod 16 ispivotally connected to the long arm of the bell-crank lever 14 a shortdistance from its fulcrum 14 and may be either manually or electricallyoperated. When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1, with thepiston 7 at its lowest position and the mercury column in contact withthe arc-linger 13 and the walls of chamber 11, one of the tog le-links15 rests upon the plunger 17, which is mounted within an aperture in thelug 18 on the stud 3. When it is desired to break the circuit a pull onthe trip-rod 19 causes the weighted end of lever 20, which is fulcrumedat 20 to a projection on the stud 3, to strike the plunger 17, thusforcing the toggle-links upward and is fulcrumed to a stud projectionfrom one side of the arm 3 and has an end connected to the long arm ofthe lever 14 by the link 23, as shown.

The piston 7 piston-rod 8 and connected operating mechanism may be madeof iron or other suitable material, while the studs 2 and 3, includingthe chambers formed therein, are made from copper or other suitableconducting material. The pull-rod 16 and trip-rod 19 may be made of woodor some suitable insulating material.

By lengthening or shortening the mercury tube 10 my circuit-breaker canbe adapted for high or low voltage, respectively, without otheralteration of the parts, and by increasing or diminishing the diameterof. the mercury tube the current-capacity can.

i be increased or diminished, the other parts of the circuit-breakerremaining unchanged.

In operating my apparatus to close a circuit, piston 7 is pulled downinto the position shown in Fig. 1 by operating the pullrod 16, thusforcing the mercury from chamber 6, through aperture 6 into passage 9,and up through tube 10 into the oil-chamber 11, where the circuit ismade throu h arefinger 13 and the walls of the cham er 11. \Vhen thepiston reaches the bottom of its throw it closes the aperture 6 andprevents the return of the mercur into chamber 6. The. piston is held inthis position by the toggle-lever 15, and is released by a pull on thetrip-rod 19, as above explained, which causes the piston to rise andpermits the mercury column to recede from the cup 11 and arc-finger13,'thus breaking the circuit.

I desire it to be understood that my invention is not limited to anyspecific form or arrangement of parts, except in so far as suchlimitations are specified in theclaims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is,

1. A circuit breaker, comprising, in combination, a pair of parallelarms, a current conducting oil chamber carried by one of said arms, apiston chamber carried by the other arm, a conduit connecting said oilchamber and said piston chamber, a piston slidable in said pistonchamber, a fluid conductor adapted to move between said. oil chamber andsaid piston chamber, and means to release said piston to permit thefluid conductor to Withdraw from contact with said oil chamber and entersaid piston chamber.

2. A circuit breaker, comprising, in combination, a pair ofsubstantially parallel arms, an oil chamber carr'iedby one of said arms,a depending contact finger provided in said oil chamber, a pistonchamber carried by the other arm, a piston slidable in said pistonchamber, a non-conductingconduit connecting said oil chamber and saidpiston chamber, conducting fluid contained .in said conduit and normallyconnecting said contact point and the second mentioned arm, and means torelease said piston to permit said fluid to withdraw from contact withsaid contact finger and collect behindsaid piston.

3. A circuit breaker, comprising, in comb1nat1on, upper and lower armsdisposed in substantially parallel relation, an oil chamber carried bysaid upper arm, a piston chamber carried by said lower arm, a pistonslidable in said piston chamber, a conduit connecting said oil chamberand said piston chamber, a conducting fluid adapted to be contained insaid conduit and 1n contact with said oil chamber and said lower armwhen said piston is advanced, and means to release said piston to permitsaid fluid to withdraw from contact with said oil chamber and to entersaid piston chamber.

4. A circuit breaker, comprising, in combination, upper and lower armsdisposed in substantially parallel relation, an oil chamber carried bysaid upper arm, a piston chamber carried by said lower arm, a pistonslidable in said piston chamber, a contact point provided in said oilchamber, a conduit connectin said oil chamber and said piston cham er, aconducting fluid adapted to surround said contact point and extend intosaid lower arm when said piston is advanced, and means to release saidpiston, to permit said conducting fluid to withdraw from said contactpoint and to collect behind said piston.

5. A circuit breaker, comprising, in combination, a pair of superposedconducting arms, an oil chamber carried bythe upper arm, a pistonchamber carried by the lower arm, a piston sliding in said pistonchamber, a conduit connecting said 011 chamber-and said piston chamber,a conductin fluid adapted to be forced into contact with said oilchamber and with said lower arm, and means to operate said piston tocause said conducting fluid to withdraw from said oil chamber.

6. In a circuit-breaker, a pair of vertically spaced studs in electricalcontact with two terminals, said studs being insulated from each-otherand one provided with a chamber, a conduit of insulating materialconnecting said studs and having connection at its lower end with saidchamber, a conductor fluid normally disposed in said chamber and capableof being extended through said conduit to electrically connect saidstuds, and means operative to move said fluid to elec- 7. In a.circuit-breaker, two vertically spaced studs, said studs being insulatedfrom each other and each provided with a chamber, a tube of insulatinmaterial connecting said chambers an arcnger located within the upperchamber and extending a short distance withinsaid tube, a conductorfluid having its major portion normally disposed within the lowerchamber and capable of movement through said tube to submerge the lowerend of the arc-finger and electrically connect said finger and thelowerstud, and.

mechan cal means operative to cause the fluid to move to electricallyconnect said finger and the lower stud and to permit it to recede tobreak such connection.

8. In a circuit-breaker, a switch-board, two vertically spaced studsprojecting from said board and forming terminals, said studs beinginsulated-from each other and the lower one provided with a chamber, atube of insulatmg material connecting said chamber and the upper stud,an arc-finger projecting from the upper stud and extendlng a shortdistance within the upper end of said tube, a conductor fluid located insaid chamber and capable of movement through the tube to submerge thelower end of the arc-finger and electrically connect the two studs, andmeans operative to move said fluid to electrically connect the two studsor permit a movement thereof to break said connection.

9. In a circuit-breaker, a pair of vertically spaced studs each having asocket provided therein, said studs being insulated from each other, atube of insulating material connecting said sockets, a conductor fluidlocated within the lower socket and capable of movement through the tubeto electrically connect said studs, a piston in the lower socket, a

piston rod prO ecting from said piston, a bell crank lever pivoted tothe associated stud and having one arm connected to the piston rod, apair of toggle-links pivoted at one end to the other arm of said leverand at their other end to said lower stud, a rod connected to saidlever, a weighted lever attached to said lower stud, a trap memberattached to said lever, and means movable to' effect a movement of saidtoggle-links from -locked position whereby to permit a movement of thepiston to allow the fluid to recede to break electrical connectionbetween said studs, said means being actuated by a tripping movement ofsaid weighted lever.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name to thisspecification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JoHN Youuc.

Witnesses:

C. W. OWEN, HAZEL B. Hmr'r.

